Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Dr. Jenn Stephenson,
My name is Pungavi Linghan and I am wishing to drop POLS 285 (Winter 2023). I recognize that I am past the deadline by a few days, however extenuating circumstances meant that I was unable to drop the course earlier.
I am currently registered with QSAS due to a physical and chronic injury. It was something unexpected that has gotten worse with the Winter Term. The accommodations allowed me to miss class occasionally, as my injury made it difficult to walk to class. In addition to that, the accommodation allowed for the use of Glean for Education and extra time on tests because the pain from my injury would be distracting. To give a quick summary of the injury, I injured my knee over the summer. It began as an MCL sprain, however it has continually gotten worse. In the Fall term, I was able to miss a few classes but still catch up using Notetaker and online lecture notes, and end the term with good grades. However with the Winter Term the weather worsened my injury by forcing me to walk in the snow and ice. I started going to the QSports Clinic where I??m still not confident what is the main cause behind the pain. It was suggested it might be patellofemoral pain syndrome with instability in the kneecap, causing pain whenever the knee was in motion. Despite athletic therapy, I began to miss many classes due to being unable to put weight on my knee. I was also worse at focusing in class due to the pain whenever I was able to get to class. While painkillers were an option during the Fall Term, and I do have them in case the pain gets intolerable, I cannot take them regularly. Over the summer and Fall Term I was prescribed naproxen 250mg by my family doctor, which is a very high dose of a very strong painkiller. It led to severe stomach pain and other side effects. Due to this, my family doctor has told me to stay off of painkillers for a few more months to avoid forming an ulcer. So, I don??t even have the ability to take painkillers for the pain.
This pain is impacting my academics in ways I never expected. For most of my courses, they are built on courses I??ve taken on the past, and thus I??m able to catch up and do well. These include CLST 405 and 207, POLS 396 and LAW 201. They are either related to previous courses I??ve taken, or simple to grasp, allowing me to work hard to get good grades. However, with POLS 285, it is completely different from any of my other courses. Meaning, I had to work harder to catch up after missing a lecture or tutorial. At the start of the term, I thought my injury would get better and I??d be able to balance 6 courses like I did during Winter 2022. However, I was wrong. Due to the extra effort I have to put in because of the injury, I am unable to balance 6 courses. Especially when one requires more attention and care since it??s statistics. The stress of trying to maintain good grades in POLS 285 is causing me to get to class even with the pain. This is only making the injury worse. Furthermore, the stress is bringing back older mental health concerns I??ve had. The reason the stress causes worse pain is because with stress I??m unable to sleep peacefully. The lack of sleep means my body isn??t receiving the time it needs to heal.
I believe I??m an excellent student. I??ve always taken a full course load or more, and have balanced my workload well with working part time with the SEO. I believe it??s best for me to drop POLS 285 so that I can decrease my stress levels and support the healing process for my injury. Since it is a core course, I will retake it in the Winter Term 2024 when I am doing better. My biggest concern is that by continuing this course either my GPA will drop, or I??ll overwork myself, prolonging the duration of this injury. I didn??t drop the course earlier because I believed I could push through. However I just found out today that my therapist at QSports is out of office for the next short while, and my grades for POLS 285 is lower than expected. It is with this that I decided I need to prioritize my physical and mental health and take a full course load instead of more.

Thank you in advance for your support,
Pungavi Linghan